OAKLAND — Police say that reports Tuesday morning of a baby girl found abandoned in East Oakland were made up by two people who knew the mother and brought the infant to Highland Hospital.

A sister and friend of the mother apparently manufactured the story about discovering the baby wrapped in a cloth on the 2600 block of 19th Avenue, Officer Johnna Watson said.

In reality, the mother had given birth at 9 a.m. and, unsure of what to do, enlisted the pair to turn the baby over. They devised the story because they didn’t want to get in trouble for bringing the baby to the hospital, according to police.

The mother is a woman in her 20s, Watson said.

“We have several young ladies in our community who are afraid of the repercussions of a newborn into the community and didn’t quite know what to do. We’re looking at this as a learning moment, not only for the ladies involved,” Watson said.

“If you are young, if you have a child that you are not ready for, that you are not sure about the resources, you can do the right thing,” Watson said.

When they heard reports about safe surrender laws, the pair returned with the mother to the hospital, Officer Johnna Watson said.

“They did all the right things until they made up the story about the baby being abandoned on the sidewalk, and that’s where law enforcement, media, everybody gets involved.”

Investigators are doing additional follow-up, and a possible option could be a charge on suspicion of falsifying a police report.
Mother and baby are now both in the hospital’s care unit under medical evaluation, Watson said. Information about where the mother gave birth was not provided by police.

The infant is reportedly in good health, officials said.

The sister and friend had originally told police they were in a car stopped for a stop sign when they heard crying. They got out and found the baby wrapped in cloth on the sidewalk. They told police they immediately drove to a hospital with the child.

Watson said there are services available for those who don’t want to keep their newborn child.

Infants can be dropped off at local fire stations “without any questions being asked,” she said.

The state Safely Surrendered Baby Law implemented on Jan. 1, 2001 allows that in addition to fire stations, babies can also be dropped off without questions being asked at public or private hospitals or other sites designated by county boards of supervisors.

Since the law was implemented to Dec. 31, 2015, 770 infants statewide have been surrendered, including 84 last year.

In that same period of time, according to the state Department of Social Services, 169 babies have been abandoned, including five last year.